Musical Pioneering Quotes

I've always had creative freedom. Instrumental rock wasn't really a genre, but the success of 'Surfing With the Alien' legitimized my approach.

There are a few things that I will hopefully be credited for as a pioneer. One is my four-mallet playing. Another one is the starting what was first called jazz rock in 1967 when I started my first band, later became jazz fusion by the 1970s.

I'm not the first guy to make a record or to make hip-hop, but I did it differently.

I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous. It's because most bands have no ideas of their own. They're so desperate they'll grab at any old straw.

Nothing I'm doing musically is revolutionary in any way, shape, or form.

I've had a lot of folks tell me that my songs weren't quite country because they didn't really sound like anybody that had come along and done it before me. I felt a little out of place for a while.

I guess that I'm primarily thought of as a rocker, largely because of 'Frankenstein' being such a heavy song - you know, it was really hard rock, almost a precursor of heavy metal and just the image of the synthesizer. I happened to be the first guy to get the idea of putting a strap on the keyboard.

Miles Davis would have this lineup of all these amazing musicians and one day would just say, 'We're done.' After tons of great records and tickets sold, he said, 'Now I'm going to grow my hair out and play my horn through a wah-wah pedal.' Rather than play it safe, he went on.

When it comes to putting together a new show, we always push the envelope, and that's part of Motley Crue's legacy.

When you are known as this cutting-edge composer all the time... it's no longer cutting-edge.

Artie Shaw was way ahead of most clarinetists and most jazz players.

The Allman Brothers 1969 to 1971... were all about... jumping off the cliff... Just taking music and being adventurous with it.

I make a timeless music. I think I've made my mark as a lyricist and as an innovator and as a tastemaker.

I've always taken it upon myself to be a pioneer or a leader, and create a different sound, not just go by what the radio is playing at the time.

I was the first artist, I think, to ever do an all-keyboard album. There were things that resembled it, like Stevie Wonder. A lot of his stuff was on keyboards, but he used brass and he used other things as well. I was the first artist, also, to use drum machines. I was really the one who kind of started that whole thing.

Pushing the envelope, musically speaking, is what needs to be done to rise to the top.

Why do you have to retire at 65? Why can't you start at 70? You know, like wine. Why can't music be that way? My new band, we're playing stuff that's never been done before.

Certain jazz musicians just copy what was done 100 years ago. The music won't grow if nobody takes a risk.

I can't think of a greater guitar icon than someone who has the musical intellect to change what was there before and take music in another direction. That's a guitar hero for me.

In music, I wanted to make sure I was innovating.

I realized pretty soon that I have to do more than just play bass in the background way. So, I developed a kind of playing which only a handful of musicians accepted.

I feel like I write songs for the future or something. Not in an arrogant way, but I feel like maybe my songs were, like, before their time or something.